Short Stature and Access to Lung Transplantation in the United States. A Cohort Study

Anecdotally, short lung transplant candidates suffer from long waiting times and higher rates of death on the waiting list compared with taller candidates. To examine the relationship between lung transplant candidate height and waiting list outcomes. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 13,346 adults placed on the lung transplant waiting list in the United States between 2005 and 2011. Multivariable-adjusted competing risk survival models were used to examine associations between candidate height and outcomes of interest. The primary outcome was the time until lung transplantation censored at 1 year. The unadjusted rate of lung transplantation was 94.5 per 100 person-years among candidates of short stature (